The books I read in 2023 so far...

1. On New Year's Eve 2022 I finished reading Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait. A fictive story of Lucrezia Di Cosimo de 'Medici from Florence. She was allegedly poisoned to death by her husband Alfonso in 1560's Medieval Italy. The story was essentially asking the question "How can a woman be free?" Lucre was barely sixteen when she was murdered - the theme of the book much the same as in Handmaid's tale a question that remains to this day, universally unanswered.
2. In a Discord group I participated in the January 2023 read, The Woman in White. The take away from this saga of female heroism and love was ultimately this: death can be a punishment or a reward. There's much to say about the plot and as always in classics many angles to view the story from. For me the group reading experience was rewarding.
3. Joel Haahtela, a doctor turned to a novelist turned into an Orthodox Christian has written some shorter novels of which i read Adèlen kysymys (in Finnish language) a mystery about Saint Adèle that sets a middle aged man wondering about his own identity.
4. Voltaire, L'Ingènu (written in 1767) I read the Finnish translation Luonnon lapsi this short novel where humor and tragedy met in the love affair of a Native of America and a French lady. Their union revealed the hypocrisy of Catholic Christianity and French politics and social life of the time, which much remains today same: the ridiculous assumptions of the Western world versus human life globally and people's judgement. Luckily when the Native was jailed he was incarcerated in the cell with a monk who was of true faith and who taught the Native the universal truths of Christ. This book was without the happy ending much like the post-colonial world of today. To borrow the words of the so called Ishmael (from another book) "Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian" remains true and good advice until date.
5. Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons was my second February read. Bazarov with this life loving character was my favorite. My favourite quote was this: "Can their prayers and their tears be fruitless? Can love, sacred, devoted love, not be all-powerful? Oh no! No matter how passionate, sinning, rebellious is the heart hidden in the grave, the flowers grow on it, look at us serenely with their innocent faces. They speak to us not only of that eternal peace, of that great peace of 'impassive' nature, they speak to us also of eternal reconciliation and of life everlasting." I cried...yes, I cried, the book was great and short.
6. The third February read was Ulf Gustafssons Det kunde vara du (1981 Swedish title means It could be you) It's a true story of a young man in his 20's who dived in head first into a lake and became paralyzed from the neck down and how he survived and found his life again despite of the many challenges he faced in care. He later became a successful advocate for the rights of handicapped and founded his own organization. I contacted him and thanked him for a well written pearl of Social Policy and he gifted me five newly printed editions that have been forwarded to Åbo Akademi Univeristy library and to my friend who teaches Social Policy in hopes of this book finding it's way to course literature one day.
7. The fourth and last February read was Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground here are my quotes to remember: "Returning home, I used to put aside for a time, my desire to embrace the whole of mankind." AND "Others are happy to sell their daughters, rather than give them away decently' She suddenly said. Ah, so that's it. 'That happens, Liza, in those cursed families where there is neither God nor love... and where there is no love, there is no reason." In summary the book is about a suffering man who meets a suffering woman, I gave it a four out of five for a brilliant idea, to see how their suffering compared. The female suffering depicted more of a social kind whereas the man's suffering more of a solitude in the midst of people.
8. Chigozie Obioma The Fishermen (Finnish translation Kalamiehet) There is so much to say about this March read, I loved it, at the same time the Nigerian modern day story was such a sad one from everyone's perspective, the book left me longing for social change, for a return to the days of Okonkwo and the pre-colonial Igboland, and so that is where I went next.
9. Chinua Achebe Things Fall Apart I've read this book a few times, what I like about this African first classic novel is that it tells how societal change comes about, like a frog in a boiling pot, first the water was only lukewarm by the time it boiled it was too late for the frog to jump out. While it is impossible to recreate Nigerian society of African cultures prior to colonialism, at least, it could be possible to gain agricultural and economic freedom and self-sufficiency, however most leaders who've thought, spoken and led in that direction over the decades have lost their heads by the same that came to colonize them. Things Fall Apart is also a novel about masculinity and what happens when men are robbed of their rights to be men, countless generations then suffer from violence and corruption.
10. I didn't read anything in May but in June I read Vilhelm Moberg's Utvandrarna and it was so good. The book told a family story of emigrants from Sweden to America in the early 19th century, especially the way across the Sea was a fascinating story, and for a while then I was stuck on books about Sea, Navigation, Sea Faring in general, I've borrowed David Abulafia's The Boundless Sea - A Human History of the Oceans TWICE! But not managed to read through it (it's too long).
11. Consequently it took me 2 months to read Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. It just so happens that I have the full body of Jane Austen's works so I'm compelled to read them all, as with Sense and Sensibility it feels like wading through a load of crap until you reach the last third of the book when you realize - Man! It's actually good, and it all comes together beautifully. I do not understand the fandom around Austen's work, and yes I did watch two movie adaptations of Mansfield Park also.
12. George Orwell, Animal Farm. When the lady at the bookstore asked me to give my opinion I said "Overrated" and that's my honest review.
13. Anne Bronte Agnes Gray - The chief message of the book was 1 John 4 "God is love and to dwell in love is to know God" Agnes had a lot of self restraint, admirable and good character, the story reminded me in a way of Jane Eyre.
14. Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights How can I even begin to describe the love between Cathy and Heathcliff, painful masculinity, passion and the pain of regret. It's easy to understand why of all the Bronte sisters works this has most often been turned into a play.
15. John Williams Stoner a most beautifully written book about a mans life and the awkwardness of life and the difficulty of fitting in. However I did not appreciate in the way Williams wrote and didn't write about the women especially Edith.